Trip to Connemara and Kylemore Abbey

Tuesday, 10.09.02

On Tuesday, 10 September, Caitlin, Gillian, and I went on a bus tour through Connemara to the Kylemore Abbey. We got up bright and early after a fun night at the pubs, went down to the tourist office, and hopped on a bus. It was absolutely beautiful--we finally got to see some more of the beautiful Irish countryside. It is so neat that everything is so lush, and I never knew there could be so many different shades of green until I came here. THere are so many different types of landscapes, too. There are some parts of the land that are covered in granite, so the soil is really bad. In those parts, it looks a little like the moon, because nothing can really grow and there are just rocks covering the land. Other parts are covered in limestone, which is good for the soil, because limestone is so porous. So, I love driving around the countryside and seeing the changes...

So, we started our tour in Galway and then drove west along the coast to a town called Spiddal, where we stopped at a craft store called Standun. We stayed there for a while and then continued on to a "deserted famine village." It is not so deserted anymore--there were lots of little houses with thatched roofs and colored doors that I absolutely love!

	These are some cute cows that we saw in the famine village.
This is one of the thatched houses. I absolutely love the whitewashed walls and the red doors. I think that they are so cute and I want to move into one and knit and drink tea all day long!!
	These are some of the infamous Irish stone walls that you see all over the countryside.
This is a stone house that was deserted during the famine and is now in ruin. I also thought that the cows were cute.

After we left the village, we got back on the bus and drove towards Kylemore Abbey. On the way there, we drove through a valley that is formed on one side by the Maamturk Mountains and on the other side by the Twelve Bens. The valley is called Maam Cross, where there is also a lake. When we got here, we hopped out and took a few pictures.

	This is the lake at Maam Cross with a cute island in the middle of it.
This is the ruin of a stone house right next to the lake. Prime real estate, right there...
	These were some cute goats that we saw right before we got off the bus.
This is a mountain from the Twelve Bens, across the lake.
	These are the Maamturk Mountains that are across the road from the lake.
This is a sheep that was standing in a yard across from the lake. I just thought it was really cute!

We then got back on the bus and drove to the Kylemore Abbey, which was absolutely breathtaking. It is at the base of Duchruach Mountain [1736ft] and on the northern shore of Lough Pollacappul, in the heart of the Connemara mountains. It was first built in the 1860s as a castle by Mitchell Henry, a surgeon from London. It is so romantic, too, because when Henry got married, he and his wife stayed at the Kylemore Lodge for their honeymoon, and his wife fell in love with the beauty of the surroundings. So, he essentially built the castle for her... A 6 acre garden was also put in place near the castle. It contained a glasshouse complex, flower garden and kitchen garden separated by a serpentine mountain stream, head gardener’s house, workers’ bothy and lime kiln. At the same time hundreds of thousands of exotic and native trees were planted throughout the area. Sadly, in 1874, his wife Margaret contracted 'Nile Fever' while touring Egypt and died. Mitchell had her body brought to Kylemore and laid to rest in a mausoleum in the grounds. The stunning and unique neo-Gothic Church right near the Castle was built as a memorial chapel to her memory. Mitchell Henry died on the 22 November 1910. His ashes were brought back to Kylemore and laid to rest next to his beloved wife, Margaret, in the mausoleum in the grounds of their dream home. In 1920, with the help of public loans, the castle was acquired, for little over £45,000, by a Community of Nuns of the Order of St Benedict. The Nuns were refugees from Belgium, and were seeking to establish an Abbey and School in Ireland. Kylemore Abbey now serves both as an abbey and as an international girls' school and is the only Irish Abbey for Nuns of the Order of St Benedict.

	This is me sitting on the fence on the way up to the abbey. Doesn't it kind of make you want to be a nun? Absolutely gorgeous!
This is a very artistic shot... A view of the abbey and the lake... Wow, I'm talented... Just joking!
	This is the view of the front of the abbey. It is gigantic.
This is one of the smaller waterfalls on the grounds of the abbey. We wanted to see the bigger ones, but we didn't have much time and were literally sprinting so that we could see the abbey and the chapel!
	This is a picture of the neogothic chapel that was built in memory of Mitchell Henry's wife.
This is the interior of the chapel, although the picture really doesn't do it justice. It was really beautiful.
	This is another one of my amazingly artistic shots... Kylemore from below through the bushes...
This is the view from Kylemore of the lake and the mountains. I really think I could be a nun, if that is what I would see every day when I woke up!
	I thought this picture was really interesting. You have to look really carefully up on the mountain behind the abbey to see the little white statue--that is a statue of Jesus watching over the abbey. I couldn't decide if that was really nice or really creepy...
This is Gillian, Caitlin, and me sitting in front of the abbey on our way out. Absolutely beautiful. Us, not the abbey. Just kidding!!

After seeing the abbey, we drove back to Galway through Connemara, which is famous for its wild Connemara ponies.

	We were able to get so close to the ponies! This was a white pony that was standing by the road and he was posing for me when I took his picture!
This is another pony that was standing with the white one. I don't know anything about one, but doesn't it look really pregnant?!
	I liked this lake because guess what its name is... Derry Clare Lake!!! YAY!
This is a closeup of the lake that is named after me... Just kidding...